Date: June 23rd, 2014
Time: June 15th-June 22nd
So I have been having my fun going on bike rides and running at Rancho
a couple of times each. Obviously, I should have been packing and planning my
trip (especially for my one day in Oslo), but since when do I ever do things on
time? So I am lounging about, and I don’t really have any sort of computer
device the day I am supposed to leave. I had brought my laptop to a repair shop
and he said he would let me know by Saturday if it needs additional parts, but
it was Monday now and now response. I’m not going to show a picture of it, but
you really don’t want to see it. I’ll talk more about it in my next post.
Time: June 23rd, 10
AM
Anyways, I did call the store and they said it would need a new part
since it has a broken hinge. Well, I didn’t have 2-4 days to wait for it to
arrive, so I said forget it, I’ll take it even though it’s hanging by a thread.
I was still goofing off on the Internet at home though even though my dad said
he was coming to pick me up at 2:30. I actually did have a plan in case my
laptop stopped working (hasn’t happened yet as I am typing on it right now): I
ordered a 2012 Nexus 7” tablet and a keyboard and some cables that would allow
me to use the flash drive and upload pictures on it. However, despite the fact
that Amazon Prime never fails, only the case and the keyboard had arrived by
the promised Friday date.
Time: 11 AM-12:30 PM
I attempted to track the package, and it was in a Sunnyvale delivery
facility by 10 PM on Friday. Clearly pretty close by, but I could not get
confirmation that it would arrive before 9 PM on Monday (no weekend
deliveries). I attempted to contact UPS and they said I could arrange to have
it picked up. However, I was soon informed that this meant I would come back to
Sunnyvale to pick it up at 8 PM. Well, I was going to be long gone by then (my
flight was scheduled for 6:45). I asked if I could meet up with the driver and
fortunately, he was just a couple of minutes from my house. Not wanting to take
the risk that he would not deliver it within 2 hours (it was around noon), I
biked over and found the van. After maybe 10 minutes, he emerged and he gave me
the package. Phew, glad that’s over with.
Time: 12:30 PM-2:15 PM
Well, I opened up the tablet and attempted to turn it on to no avail. So
I tried to plug it in and turn it on, but this did not solve the problem
either. I turned it on and it immediately turned off again. I panicked, called
my dad and said it didn’t work. In the end, this was just my impatience and it
was really slow at charging. However, my frustrations led to some additional
complications. I tried out one of the cables that I bought that was supposed to
connect the tablet to a USB acceptor port (since it only can take micro-USB
cables. This was a rather small thing and I proceeded to lose it immediately. I
spent most of the rest of the time before my dad came scrambling around my
terribly messed up house (this could get a story of its own from my week there,
but I will spare you the sorrows).
Time: 2:15 PM-3:45 PM
I still hadn’t completely packed everything and still hadn’t taken a
shower for over a day. I had to go to the Y for a shower (about the house
again, don’t ask).When my dad came and helped me pack up the rest of my stuff,
he said there was no time. I said that I would rather miss my flight than not
shower (the time wasn’t an issue; I was just correctly worried that I wouldn’t
shower once I got to Oslo either). He ended up dropping me off at the Y while
he got me Chipotle for lunch and dinner. Actually, he got me three burritos but
I didn’t want that much of a mess in my backpack so I just asked for two. I
asked to pick up the laptop too but he said we had no time. I thought we were
alright (around 3:15 leaving the Y now) and I could use a laptop even if my
tablet could technically suffice. We went and I quickly picked it up.
Time: 3:30 PM-4:45 PM
I am always scared of my dad’s driving when we are in a rush. He lets
his nervousness turn him into a really fast and terrible driver. I honestly
would rather have driven. My fears came to life when he decided to listen to
his car’s GPS’s directions to stay on the highway when his traffic-coherent
phone said to take a detour. Realizing his mistake too late, he proceeded to
change lanes well after the exit split off. This pushed the oncoming car into
the middle of the roadway and I was afraid that he would (kind of justifiably)
ram into us. My dad kept his distance and turned left onto the detour while the
other guy went right back onto the freeway into a bunch of cars that were not
moving freely. We then proceeded to make it to the airport by around 4:40,
which was actually in plenty of time. Upon looking at my flight, I saw that to
the right of the scheduled flight time, it said that the actual flight time was
10:30. We were informed after we landed in Oslo that all the delays emanated
out of a French transit strike. It’s always those lazy French people.
Time: 4:45 PM-7:00 PM
It seemed that the airport required meal vouchers to be handed out by
the offending airline for significantly delayed flights (an unrelated airline
flying to Portland gave out vouchers too). So in addition to my two Chipotle
burritos, I got $20 to spend at my airport terminal. The only choices for me
really were Pizza Hut, Starbucks, and Chinese fast food. While margarita pizza
looked tempting, I’m sure Pizza Hut could mess that up so I decided to go
through security and take my chances at the 3-star rated Chinese place. When I
was at security, I realized that I had misplaced my meal slip. I looked around
a bit but I figured I left it in a bin and someone else had taken it. The TSA
people kindly looked through the bins for me but there was nothing there except
an old ticket. Fortunately, it was actually in my backpack in a place where it
could easily slip into the abyss of electronic plugs.
7:00 PM-10:00 PM
I got lemongrass tofu, and elephant ear cookie, and a Naked Juice blend
of kale, apple, cucumber, orange, and some ginger extract. It wasn’t very good
but I figured I could use something healthy. The meal was alright for free but
of course I would never spend $20 (or even $10 unless I was truly desperate) on
unglorified Panda Express-type food. Still with a couple of hours to kill, I
wandered about to find an outlet for my tablet and laptop and goofed off on the
Internet some more. I also talked some to my dad and informed him of my status.
The rest of the night leading up to the plane boarding was uneventful, so I
will leave this post to die off on that note. Oh, I guess I did eat the first
Chipotle burrito about an hour before scheduled takeoff that would keep my full
for the flight.
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